


Time Will Tell - Book One

by Nugiha



Category: Stuck in the Middle (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Family, Comment Fic, Community: comment_fic, Gen, One Big Happy Family, To Read, To Rec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 16:09:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8851399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nugiha/pseuds/Nugiha
Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley almost 13(seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None  
> Cast  
> Jari Diaz...Freddie Highmore  
> Jari’s father, Tom Diaz…Joe Nieves  
> Jari’s mother, Suzy Diaz…Cerina Vincent
> 
>  
> 
>   
> From l-r: Tom, Ethan, Harley, Georgie, Jari, Rachel, Daphne, Lewie, Beast, and Suzy

**January**

Marshport, MA The Diaz Home

In the town of Marshport lived the Diaz family which consisted of parents, Tom and Suzy and their eight children, there was _never_ a dull day for the Diaz's who were looked at with contempt and disdain from a woman who lived next door to them named Bethany Peters, the kids were usually either driving their parents _or_ each other insane.

One such occasion was that morning and involved Jari, one of the Diaz children who was trying to remain _stealth_ while sneaking away from the eldest child, Rachel who had been curling her hair in one of the bathrooms when he decided to scare her.

"Where is he!? I'm going to kill him!" said Rachel, the long-haired brunette was the eldest at sixteen and could be harsh and self-centered when she wanted to be.

Daphne smirked at her older brother who was making his way towards his room, she was the baby of the family at seven and was known to be the self proclaimed boss of the family. "He who?"

"Jari!"

Jari listened from his room as Daphne offered to let Rachel know his location for a price, the only way he would ask his youngest sister for help was a _last resort_ because the preteen knew that Daphne rarely if ever did anything out of good will.

***

The Diaz Home Girl's Room

Knowing that it would be only a matter of time before his sisters finished their negotiations, Jari headed into Harley's room which she shared with Rachel and Georgie. Harley was the _least_ likely to rat him out to Rachel so Jari figured that she would be the best option.

"This is not a good time." said Harley who didn't bother to look up from her latest project, she would be thirteen in a couple of months but was only seven months younger than Jari and known to be the inventor of the family.

Jari knew that while Harley didn't like being interrupted during her inventions, the 'chaos' of the family mysteriously helped her get things done. "Rachel's after me."

"What did you do now?"

"It's not important, just remember that you never saw me if she comes in here." Jari said.

Harley rolled her eyes but agreed to cover for Jari who sat across from her and asked what she was working on, the two talked about her _newest_ invention up until both heard footsteps towards the room and Jari quickly hid under the bed before the door opened.

"It's time for breakfast, I would get down there if I were you before it's all gone." Ethan suggested, the guitar lover was fourteen and the third oldest of the Diaz children.

Ethan was Harley's best friend in the family _BFTF_ , though Harley and Jari were pretty close as well due to being the two middle children. Upon realizing that it was him, Jari revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from Rachel and to make up an excuse to their parents why he wouldn't be at breakfast.

New Years Eve happened to be that day which went without much incident, Jari had managed to avoid Rachel up until the midnight countdown which only their parents, Rachel, Georgie, Ethan, Harley, and himself stayed up for while the younger ones had fallen asleep.

After the midnight countdown, Jari had changed into his pajamas and was about to go to bed when he remembered Rachel and decided to go and apologize. Though Rachel acted snobbish and simply told him to go to sleep and leave her alone, Jari saw the smile as he left the girl's room and knew that the vain girl _wasn't_ sore with him anymore.

Next Chapter: Daphne blackmails one of her brothers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley almost 13(seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**February**

Tom's Bait and Bite

Owing Daphne had made for a difficult week for poor Jari, see Tom owned a store that selled camping and fishing equipment and unfortunately he and his youngest sister had done a big no no by breaking the slushie machine, slushies were the biggest money maker within the store. Needless to say, Daphne had used the information as _collateral_ to make him into her personal servant.

Being the youngest helped Daphne get away with things, and the preteen knew that she would find a way to shift _all_ blame onto him for her part.

Jari had bought some candy and was carrying it through the backyard and into the house when one of his friends, Frankie Loveless had stopped him for an explanation before he could go inside the house.

Quickly explaining to Frankie about Daphne's blackmail, Jari headed inside the house and delivered the candy to Daphne who ordered him to get her something to drink before opening the candy and starting to eat it. The preteen glared at Daphne who wasn't paying attention to him anymore before leaving the dollhouse which was coincidentally her room as well.

That afternoon, Jari had recruited his fraternal twin brothers, Lewie and Beast for help to get away from Daphne and three decided to go to their father's shop. Beast wasn't allowed to touch the ground that day due to a dare by Lewie and was walking with a tub of margarine around his legs.

"We've got Georgie's basketball game today, let's go." said Jari, he had heard a car horn honking outside the store which was a _herald_ that the family was getting ready to leave.

Lewie scoffed at his older brother, he and Beast were fraternal twins at nine and were constantly in trouble or about to get in trouble, Lewie was known to be the mastermind of the two. "I don't even know why we have to go to those, her team never wins."

"That's true." Beast agreed with his twin.

"Because she's our sister and we have to be there for moral support." Jari explained to the twins.

"What does that mean?" asked Beast.

Jari knew that explaining the concept of moral support to the twins would be _pointless_ but was saved when Harley walked into the store and told him and the boys that it was time to go, he reluctantly followed her and the twins to the van though the preteen had no plans of being around Daphne.

Next Chapter: Jari decides to sell his posessions in order to make money.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**March**

The Diaz Home

On the eleventh of March, it was supposed to be Harley's birthday, but she had told Jari not to tell anyone about it when her brother tried to remind her of this. Jari had discovered that their parents forgetting Harley's birthday would allow his sister to use mega guilt points in order to get the sweet seat, it was the best seat in the car and Rachel had claimed it due to being the oldest.

Jari had went to the mall with Georgie that afternoon and saw a new iPad through the display window of one of the stores before going inside and checking it out, he wanted to buy it right then and there but realized that he didn't have the money.

Asking Georgie was a waste of time since Jari knew that his sister had spent all her money on some new basketball cleats, he found her at the food court and the two shared some pretzels before heading home.

The second that they got home, Jari found Tom and Suzy in the kitchen and decide to ask them about some money for the iPad which would've cost him _an arm and a leg_.

"No." said Tom, turning his son down flat once he heard what Jari wanted.

Jari tried to protest though even he knew that asking his parents was a longshot. "But Dad-"

"Maybe you should save your allowance and then you'll have enough money to get it yourself." Suzy said.

"That'll take ages, how come everyone gets money but me?"

Tom shot the preteen a sharp look. "I resent that, you just got a new basketball last week."

"I know that but..." Jari started to protest.

Any further protests were silenced by Tom who went to go work at the store while Suzy went upstairs for some alone time away from her kids after telling her son that he would have to earn the money himself.

Jari decided to go to Frankie's figuring his best friend could help him come up with a solution to this problem, though Frankie wasn't much help and the two were given unasked for input by Frankie's older sister, Gabrielle Loveless and younger siblings, Joshua and Sophie Loveless.

***

The Diaz Home Backyard

Deciding to go with Gabby's advice, Jari had set up a stand out back of his house that evening and decided to sell some of his personal possessions in order to make money. He was nearly able to sell his harmonica when Georgie intervened and pulled him to the side.

"You love that harmonica, what are you doing?" Georgie asked, she was the second oldest and would be fifteen in a couple of months and known to be sporty and athletic.

Jari was confused at Georgie's apparent _disapproval_ since he thought that his older sister would be on his side. "I'm trying to make money to get that iPad."

"Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"I was the one who gave you that harmonica for your seventh birthday." Georgie said. "You used to play it all the time and Rachel, Ethan, and Harley would get mad at you and chase you around because you refused to stop."

Jari felt a pang of guilt at Georgie's words and realized that his sister was right, he told his 'customers' to go home and he wouldn't be selling anything that day.

Next Chapter: All eight of the Diaz siblings end up on lockdown.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

The Diaz Home

Lockdown was the Diaz form of grounding and Jari was still on it during April Fool's Day, everything had started when the his siblings had broken a tablet and their parents refused to buy another one, instead Ethan and Harley came up with a plan that involved sneaking a stranger in to stay with them for a couple of nights like a bed and breakfast deal.

Tom had caught on when they were forced to move the stranger into his store and sent the guy packing which made the whole pointless since they didn't get the money that they needed.

The eight Diaz children had all gotten lockdown for going behind their parent's backs, but Jari had gotten an extra week due to bringing home a bad report card. Personally he had thought the scheme for the new tablet was a bad idea but had been overruled by the _democracy_ of Diaz's.

Jari was contemplating things when Suzy walked into the boy's room with crate full of his electronics and toys, he looked at his mother suspiciously who only nodded and told him that he was off lockdown.

He couldn't help running to his mother and hugging her tight before leaving out of the room while crying out freedom which caused Rachel to poke out of her head out from her room to tell him to shut up.

Breakfast was sitting on the dining room table when Jari ran inside and joined his father and all of his siblings except Rachel, he figured that his mother was trying to get her downstairs since Rachel could take hours getting ready.

"What's with your good mood?" asked Harley who looked up at him from her bowl of cereal.

Jari grinned at his sister. "Mom said that I'm off lockdown."

"Up top." Ethan said, he then high-fived his younger brother across the table. Suzy then walked into the dining room with a protesting Rachel and the two joined their family at the table.

"What a pity." Rachel mumbled with a roll of her eyes though everyone still heard her.

Jari didn't want to risk getting put back in lockdown and decided not to say anything to Rachel, but he would definitely be getting his older sister back at a later time.

Next Chapter: The Diaz's celebrate Mother's Day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**May**

Marshport Movie Theater

The Wi-Fi service had gotten cancelled due to Suzy threatening the provider with cancellation, seeing as everyone was growing restless and driving each other more insane than normal, Suzy and Tom decided to take the family to the movies one evening. Jari had yet to finish his homework and decided to work at the theater, the movie would be a good distraction for the family.

"Mom's buying popcorn and drinks." said Lewie as he and Daphne walked up to Jari and the two sat on either side of him while Beast sat in the empty seat next to Lewie.

Jari laughed but didn't look up from the assignment he was working on. "Good for her."

"What are you doing?" Beast asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious? He's working on homework that he didn't finish when he was supposed to." Daphne said with an evil gleam in her eye.

Jari heard the familiar tone in his youngest sibling's voice and turned to her. "You're not going to use this to try to get me in trouble, are you?"

Daphne smirked. "I'm still thinking about it."

"A good sister wouldn't rat me out." Jari explained.

Tom, Suzy, and the rest of the Diaz children then walked into the movie with two super large popcorns and drinks on a cupholder and took their seats which had been reserved by Harley earlier.

It took half the movie for Jari to finish the homework he had been working on, luckily Harley had stashed some popcorn for him in a cup before their siblings could eat it all.

On Mother's Day, the soda and milk had run out and it happened to very humid which made Jari nearly resort to drinking _tap water_ from the sink but he decided to go to Frankie's instead knowing that Mrs. Loveless kept a large supply of soda and juice.

Jari returned home that afternoon to find out that Harley had opted out of making one gift that everyone got credit for and that he and his siblings would be making their _own_ this year, he decided not to be on a team with one or more of his siblings having bought a scarf that he thought his mother would like the week before.

Lewie and Beast's original idea for a mother's day gift had been a bust and when they came to him, Jari took pity on the duo and let them be on his team.

Disaster nearly struck when Harley ended up getting their mother's car lost in an attempt to have it detailed, Jari took blame along with the rest of his siblings when their parents questioned them as to the whereabouts of the car.

But it turned out that the car had simply been moved under a tree near the house, and Suzy let on to Harley that she knew the mother's day gifts had been her idea and that the others just took credit. With that situation resolved, Jari, Lewie, and Beast gave their gift to Suzy who thanked and hugged them upon receipt.

Next Chapter: Rachel argues with Jari over Cuff.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**June**

The Diaz Home

The last day of school seemed to fly by and before Jari knew it, he and Harley were in the van as they waited for Suzy to finish picking up the rest of their siblings so that she could drive them home, the elbows and stuff that went flying during the car ride home was worth it to him since there would be _less_ of it during the summer with school being out.

Rachel had invited her boyfriend, Cuff over to the house and while Tom couldn't stand the guy, Jari and the rest of his siblings mostly paid him no attention unless he ate their food or something.

In his greed, Cuff had tried to claim the last popsicle that Jari had claimed dibs on the other day but wasn't able to. Rachel called her brother into the livingroom where she and Cuff were watching something on TV and tried to get him to change his mind, but Jari wasn't budging.

"I called dibs on it, you know the rules Rachel." said Jari, he didn't want to see _any_ guy dating his sister while Harley was of the opinion that Rachel could do _better_ than Cuff.

Rachel showed her frustration by glaring daggers at him. "But he's my boyfriend, you have to be nice."

"If your puppy boy wants a popsicle, then he can go to the store and buy one. But he can't do that, can he? Cause he's got no money."

"Don't insult my boyfriend!" Rachel exclaimed.

Rachel continued screaming at Jari who finally got bored with the argument and walked out of the livingroom, the latter figured that his sister would calm down faster for Cuff and then he would try talking to her later on.

Knowing that one of the only things Tom really wanted for Father's Day was to take his sons to the _river_ , Jari agreed with no haste despite his reservations of falling into the water.

Jari had never been a _good_ swimmer but he put a brave face on and got into the canoe with Tom, Ethan, Lewie, and Beast and helped with paddling. Of course it wouldn't be a proper canoe trip if Tom or Ethan hadn't had to pull the twins back from dunking their heads in the water to see the different kinds of fish.

Once he got back home that evening and changed his clothes which had become wet from a splashing fight that Lewie and Beast had started, Jari joined his family in front of the fireplace where they were roasting smores.

"You haven't told me how canoeing went." said Harley who looked at her brother with curious eyes.

Jari was relieved that he hadn't somehow fallen into the water and actually felt good about the trip. "It went fine."

Rachel couldn't help but mumble that it was a shame that no one had pushed Jari in which caused her to get smacked by Georgie and glared at by Harley and Daphne.

"Maybe we should do this and go camping next year." Ethan suggested. Jari knew that Ethan could sense his apprehension about canoeing while on the trip and that was probably _one_ of the reasons behind his suggestion.

"Who says we have to wait until next year? It's summer." Georgie pointed out. "We could go a few weeks before school lets back in."

"I don't even want to think about school." Jari groaned.

Next Chapter: Rachel, Lewie, Beast, and Jari decide to prank Ms. Peters.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**July**

Streets

Entering July had brought the annual neighborhood block party which Ms. Peters had _reluctantly_ let Suzy organize, Jari couldn't stand the fact that his mother was being given such a hard time and teamed up with Rachel, Lewie, and Beast in order to prank their neighbor, he disguised his voice before placing an untraceable phone call to Ms. Peters asking her what was the _next_ step now that he hid the body _for_ her.

The call had done it's job of terrifying Ms. Peters who backed off of his mother and approved of Harley's idea of a slide during the block party, though the woman had refused to her daughter who happened to be Harley's best friend, Ellie Peters on the slide.

The block party was still going on late in the afternoon and Jari located his friend, Frankie and the two got snow cones before deciding to walk around.

"You still haven't told me how you got Ms. Peters to take that stick out of her..." started Frankie before being given a stern look from his mother, Mrs. Loveless who was talking to Suzy nearby.

Jari laughed and then decided to speak in a nonchalant way. "She might have gotten a phone call which freaked her out."

"What kind of call Jari?"

"Don't worry about it Frankie."

Frankie smirked. "I have to admit, that sounds choice."

"You don't mess with my family." Jari said.

Independence Day came about a few days later and at Jari's insistence, his parents had invited the Loveless family over that evening to watch the fireworks with them.

The adults were BBQing in the backyard as Josh, Sophie, and Jari went to get blankets for everyone since it was expected to be cold, Jari was getting them from the house while the other two were getting them from their car.

After watching the fireworks show which was amazing like it was every year, all the kids save for Lewie and Beast recieved sparklers that Suzy and Mrs. Loveless reminded them not to run with. Jari, Frankie, Josh, Sophie, and the other kids got to set off their own fireworks before Suzy told everyone that it was time to eat and that the BBQ was ready.

Next Chapter: Suzy and Tom leave Rachel in charge when they go on vacation.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**August**

The Diaz Home

It had taken some time for the eight Diaz children to convince their parents to go on a vacation, Jari with assistance from Ethan and Harley helped with _booking_ their flight and hotel to Hawaii which was supposed to be a tropical location, he had that it would be a win for both them and his siblings.

Suzy and Tom had been reluctant to leave especially with Lewie, Beast, and Jari packing their suitcases a day _before_ they were supposed to leave and then calling a cab to take them to the airport, but somehow they had managed to reason with their parents by reminding them of how long it's been since they've taken a proper vacation.

The next morning after their parents were out of the house and in a cab enroute to the airport, Jari cheered and whooped with the rest of his siblings. He was glad that they had succeeded in getting their parents out of the house for a couple of days.

"I haven't seen the doorknob much lately, what happened to him Rachel?" asked Jari, he couldn't help but notice Rachel's boyfriend _hadn't_ been around lately.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I dumped him."

"Why did you do that?" Harley asked curiously. Harley wasn't fooling him for a minute, Jari could tell that she was trying hard not to show much this news thrilled her.

"Because I wanted to."

Jari noticed the sharp look on Rachel's face but wasn't deterred in the least bit. "I guess you won't be sneaking him over now that the parentals are gone?"

Georgie rolled her eyes. "They broke up which means there's no reason for her to Jari." she said.

"Don't worry sissy, you made the right choice." Jari assured.

"Whatever, just try not to bug me too much or Mom and Dad will be wondering where you went." Rachel warned and then turned to the others. "That goes for all of you."

The house went to shambles within the next few days and since Rachel refused to step up, the livingroom and the backyard became flooded with snow.

The thought of no rules had initially been fun to Jari but when his parents phoned in the morning to tell everyone that they were coming home, he realized that lockdown was _imminent_ not only for him but his brothers and sisters.

Thanks to Rachel finally taking charge and forcing everyone to clean up, the house was back to it's normal state by the afternoon. In a rare bonding moment, Rachel and Jari embraced and high fived before splitting off to their usual devices.

Next Chapter: The Diaz's have a game night on account of rain.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**September**

Streets

Though summer vacation had been fun, the first day of school had _finally_ come upon the Diaz children who were rushing around either trying to find clothes or getting dressed, everyone was trying to rush so that they would have time to get to the dining room table before breakfast was _all_ gone.

Jari grabbed his backpack and dropped it near to the door before sprinting to the dining room and grabbing his favorite box of cereal and pouring himself some, he was just glad that the others _hadn't_ gotten ahold to it.

It was a couple of minutes before his parents and siblings joined them at the table, all of them were either wearing looks of shock or glaring at him for being the _first_ to make it.

Once breakfast was over, Jari briefly caught sight of a news _broadcast_ on the television which Tom turned off before he and Suzy wrangled him and his siblings out of the family car.

The first day of school seemed long and boring with new teachers and new classmates, he all but ran out of the school once the bell finally rang. Suzy smiled as her son got in the family car and after being joined by Ethan and Harley, she drove off to pick up the rest of the children.

"I'm glad school's over." said Ethan, the teen placed his arms behind his head before leaning back to relax in his seat.

Jari couldn't help but agree with his older brother. "It seemed to drag on and on."

"I'm actually glad to be able to go back tomorrow, this teacher gave me a great idea for a new invention Jari." Harley said.

"As long as you don't work outside Harley."

Ethan narrowed his eyes at Jari in confusion. "Why shouldn't she work outside?"

Harley crossed her arms. "Not that I'm saying that I'm going to or anything like that, but that makes no sense." she said.

"It makes sense to me."

"And?"

"It's going to rain tonight." Jari said.

True to the weather prediction, the rainstorm was in full effect by that evening and Suzy made sure to keep Lewie and Beast close to her so that the two troublemakers didn't go outside.

Jari was watching the rain from his room window when Harley walked in to tell him that everyone was downstairs and to come with her, he quickly followed his younger sister out of curiosity as to what his family was up to.

Tom, Suzy, and the rest of his siblings were playing _UNO_ and a deck was handed to Harley and Jari once they sat down, the game went on for what seemed like hours with Suzy eventually coming out the winner. The Diaz's played a couple more games before going into the kitchen so that each of them could get a cup of hot _cocoa_.

Next Chapter: Jari convinces his friends to work at Tom's store.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**October**

The Diaz Home

Neither of the three saw the point in trying to butter up Ms. Peters who had _hated_ their family as far back as they could remember, but Lewie, Beast, and Jari weren't given much by Suzy who insisted on them dropping off a _breadbasket_ that she had made to their neighbor, Jari was pretty sure the only reason he was forced into going with the twins was because they _wouldn't_ have done it themselves.

Ms. Peters opened her front door and scrunched her noise up at the trio upon sight of them, the twins nudged Jari who quickly handed the woman the breadbasket and explained that it was a gift from their mother before quickly leading his brothers back home.

The sight of Daphne feeding a skunk had greeted Jari when he got back from visiting Frankie that afternoon, he should've known that it would a _bad_ idea to take the backdoor.

"I can't believe you went through with giving that lady Mom's breadbasket." said Daphne as she turned away from the skunk to scoff at her older brother.

Jari shrugged his shoulders but kept a skeptical gaze on Daphne's 'pet'. "Mom insisted but I don't know why, I'm positive that Ms. Peters threw it away the second we left."

"It's a possibility Jari."

"When are you going to get rid of that thing Daphne? I don't want it spraying me again."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Melvin is not a thing, he's my pet."

"His name's not Melvin and you can't keep a skunk as a pet Daphne, no one has a skunk for a pet." Jari insisted.

Being a _staffer_ at Tom's store wasn't easy though Jari had managed to talk Gabby and Frankie into working there upon hearing that _both_ were in need of some money, the latter two were even given the same shift as him.

By the time their shifts were over and the trio was walking out of the bait shop, he could tell that the Loveless siblings were drained and wanted to _quit_ but couldn't since they would only get a _paycheck_ if they worked a full week.

***

Streets

Halloween was the day before the end of the week and the Diaz's had all gotten their costumes on to go trick-or-treating that evening, Suzy and Tom normally drove their children to _different_ neighborhoods so that they could get a variety of candy. Jari had decided to go an elf that year and ended up in a group with Rachel and Georgie while the rest of the family was ahead of them.

"I'm glad Mom made Daphne get rid of that skunk." said Jari and his sisters nodded their heads in their agreement, Melvin had sprayed their mother a couple of days ago and a quick call to animal control had gotten the skunk _out of_ the Diaz's lives.

Rachel put her arm around her younger brother. "Us too, so how's it going with Gabby and Frankie working at the store?"

"They're probably going to quit tomorrow." Jari said. "I don't think either of them knew how hard it was going to be."

"The fact that you just started working there again didn't tip them off?" Georgie gaped at him in disbelief.

Jari had thought it would be better if Gabby and Frankie _hadn't_ known the fact beforehand. "I didn't tell them that."

Rachel smirked at him. "That was pretty devious of you Jari and I'm impressed." she said.

"Thanks Rachel, we'd better hurry before Lewie and Beast take all the candy." Jari said.

Next Chapter: Jari films a documentary on his family for a class project.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None

**November**

The Diaz Home

While getting ready for bed one evening, Jari realized that a bright light had appeared at his window and when he went to check and noticed a comet in the night sky, he quickly called for Ethan, Lewie, and Beast who were the only ones home apart from their parents before they missed it. After viewing the comet, the brothers exchanged laughs and talked for a bit before deciding to turn in for the night.

Having been assigned a class project the other day and deciding to use his family, Jari managed to wake up before anyone else and started filming them for the _documentary_. The first to be filmed were Lewie and Beast, he knew that his sisters would be _tougher_ and decided to save them for last.

"What do we have to do?" asked Lewie, he was still wearing his pajamas along with Beast.

Jari angled the camera to have a better focus on the twins. "Act natural, what do you two usually do in the morning?"

Beast then put his finger up his nose and Lewie saw what his twin was doing and did the same.

"Uh-" Jari started and then quickly covered the camera lense as he moved away.

"You said act natural." Beast reminded him.

"We'll pick up this later." Jari said, he didn't want to get sick before breakfast and decided to get out of their presence since he _already_ felt green.

Capturing footage of all seven of his siblings along with his parents before breakfast had been a bit tricky with all four of his sisters telling him to get out of their faces and that they _didn't_ want to be filmed, but Jari had managed to get the footage anyways and explained that it was for a school project before running away from the glares being thrown at him.

***

The Diaz Home Dining Room

On Thanksgiving, Suzy with help from Rachel, Georgie, and Harley had prepared a meal of ham, turkey, dressing, mac n' cheese, enchiladas, bbq wings, and cranberry sauce. Once dinner was ready, everyone sat at the dining room table and said _grace_ before eating.

"Did your teacher like that documentary? I'm thinking of doing one for the fun of it." said Ethan who was sitting on Jari's left while Harley was on the right.

Jari nodded his head. "Yeah, she even liked the super embarassing parts at your expense."

"What!?"

Harley turned from her food in order to glare at her older brother and Rachel, Georgie, and Daphne soon followed asuit.

"I even got Harley flossing her teeth in the weirdest way possible."

Ethan shook his head at his younger brother. "That's not cool Jari."

"I'm kidding Ethan, I did get some embarassing stuff but I thought it would be wrong to show that to my class." Jari said.

Next Chapter: The Diaz's celebrate Christmas.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Time Will Tell - Book One  
> A/N: AU fic, strictly written for fun. The ages are Jari 13, Rachel 16, Georgie 15, Ethan 14, Harley 13(as of chapter three, seven months younger than Jari), Lewie and Beast 9, and Daphne 7. For story purposes, Tom and Suzy have eight children instead of seven.  
> Fandom(s): Stuck In The Middle  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> Summary: Harley is practically a child genius who lives in a family with eight children which is like living in the eye of a tornado especially with sibling rivalries, lockdown, her sister's irresponsible boyfriend, and more.  
> Rating/Warnings: G. OC, OOC, (Slapstick) Violence, and etc.  
> Pairing(s): None  
> Cast  
> Jari Diaz...Freddie Highmore  
> Jari’s father, Tom Diaz…Joe Nieves  
> Jari’s mother, Suzy Diaz…Cerina Vincent

The Diaz Home

With Christmas on the horizon, Jari decided to go shopping in order to buy gifts for his parents and siblings, he would've gone last month but had procrastinated as usual and gone at the last possible minute. It took some _crypticness_ on his part to make sure that his brothers and sisters were _clueless_ as to what he was actually doing, they would've tried to peek at what he was getting them if they knew.

Having _newly_ acquired presents not only for his family but for Frankie and his family as well, Jari made sure that the gifts were well hidden in the bags before going to the parking lot so that his mother could pick him up.

His siblings were around all the time so it took until the evening before Jari had the chance to wrap their presents and place them under the tree, Georgie walked into the livingroom and frowned at the already wrapped gifts.

"This makes no sense, you haven't gone anywhere in days so you shouldn't have had the chance to buy presents." said Georgie.

Jari smiled at his older sister. "That's what you think Georgie."

"How did you do it Jari?"

"That's for me to know and you to not." Jari teased.

Mrs. Loveless held her annual Christmas party a few days before the holiday and the Diaz family of course attended, Frankie answered Jari's unasked question about the _outlandish_ decorations and told him that his mother had thought they were festive.

The Christmas party turned out to be alot of fun with their being a movie marathon for the kids, lots of games, food, laughter, and even karaoke, Daphne and Jari decided to perform a duet of the song " _Silent Night_ " which caused Suzy and the other mothers to tear up.

The fun came to an end later that evening and the Diaz family left with gifts from the Loveless family to put under their tree.

***

The Diaz Home

Christmas came before they knew it and the first person up was Daphne who woke up her sisters first followed by her brothers and then went to wake up her parents, everyone was still in their pajamas as they went downstairs to open presents. Suzy and Tom took video of their children opening their gifts and soon enough there was only wrapping paper _left_ on the floor.

"Thanks for my doll." said Daphne as the seven year old splashed glitter towards the Christmas tree.

Jari laughed. "Thanks for that new PS2 game."

"It was only fair since she broke your last one Jar." Harley said.

"Water under the bridge Harley."

Rachel smirked as she had one of her gifts in hand. "We should do karaoke later."

Jari couldn't help but agree. "It was alot of fun when we did it at the Loveless's."

"No karaoke." Ethan protested.

"Why not?"

"Because I ended up being paired with the twins last time and you know how that went."

"Let's get some breakfast." Jari said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all that I have to write for this story, thanks for reading. There may or may not be a sequel out eventually.


End file.
